


West by Northwest

by Lomph10d



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-02 14:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2814740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lomph10d/pseuds/Lomph10d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a story about a scout in the post-apocalyptic world described, trying to get in depth.  Original location and characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

West by Northwest  
by Lomph10d (subject to possible later changes)

Prologue:

 

A figure appears in the edge of the forest beyond the open area used for small patches of fields, in between them there are way too many ditches criss-crossing the view, almost in a maze-like pattern. On the other side there is a wall made of wood, facing east as the sun is climbing in mid-morning over the Kajaani safe area.

"Hey, there something over there", says the 14-year old boy standing on top the Guards' walk. He's here as a part of his school duties, mainly to keep the elderly guard company, but also to oversee the perimeter fields and learning about guarding.

"Where?", says the elderly guard,"Ah, now I think I see it. Are we due any more scouts today?"

The boy checks the list of the scouts' expected schedule and says,"all three night scouts are in, day scouts are out, two long-distance scouts due the day after tomorrow. No."

"Thanks, OK, let's see what it is. Trolls shouldn't be moving at this time, so maybe a beast or even some animal. Good catch."

The guard takes the scratched binoculars from their equally worn case, sets them on his eyes and says:"Not there, not there, there! It's a man!"

"He has to come a bit closer so I can see who it is", says the guard,"could of course be someone from Pielinen, approaching from the wrong direction by mistake, we may have to call him on that, not good if the guy is so slow or dimwitted he doesn't see the traps on the walkways."

The figure gets to the fields and it looks like he knows this maze of ditches, walkways and traps well, on him is a backbag marked with Kajaani colors.

The guard focuses and states,"That must be Eki. The walk is the same, the backbag's the same. Well have to wait just a little longer."

The boy stares intently at the appoaching figure and says,"The scout we thought was lost?"

"Yes, that's Erkki for you. This is not the first time he's over his due time, he's made a couple of 3 week outings before, and last winter he made the full two weeks in -15. Then we thought he was dead of cold."

After a quick look through the binoculars he states:"Yes, that's Eki for sure, we should inform Marjatta about this, she definitely wants to have a word with him."

"Can I stay until he's clear of the gate, I'll escort him to headquarters afterwards?", says the boy eager to talk to this scout known for his eccentricity on practical matters.

"I think that's not any use to you, Eki is the sort of guy who really doesn't like the company of people, and he's not likely to tell anything until evening possibly, maybe not even then. Of course he reports to the headquarters like the rest of them, and brings home select items and info for later scavenging operations, but I think he's got only a couple of what you'd call friends, in the scouts too. All you'd get is a couple of grunts, likely, I think those guys forget how to talk after a while on a long outing", he winks at the boy, "Long-distance scouts are a bit oddball, not as odd as night scouts, but Eki could be a night scout in this respect. Off you go."

\-----

"Remember to be polite, it's Mrs.Kosonen to you!", the guard shouts to the boy, Santeri Mikkonen, running down the stairs to the road leading to the main settlement and headquarters.

The guard turns about, and sees the long-distance scout has already got past the middle of the perimeter fields. He checks again the approaching man with the binoculars and sees some tears in the overcoat the man's wearing, that's been treated to somewhat withstand water. The late spring is the least wet season hereabouts, but interrupting a patrol every time for little rain would get you nowhere far out, rarely two weeks go by without some rain. The coat, when it's in good condition can serve as an additional shelter in the huts that have been built for the longer patrols. The materials for these must be carried out and the huts on islands aren too water-proof nor warm. Some scouts use the cabins of Old on islands for sleeping and resting places in longer travels, the guard knows, but then the beasts and trolls must be dealt with first.

The scout has almost reached the final ditch before the wall, so the guard shouts:"Hey Eki! What's the rush??!"

The returning scout looks up and sees the guard wawing, then jumps over the final ditch as the logbridge is trapped. He stops before the scouts' gate and shouts back at the guard:"Is that you Vilho?!?, spare the snark and open the gate!"

Vilho says:"Well I have to make sure it's you, you see, did you have a nice walkabout?"

Erkki grunts and says:"I said spare the snark and why did you have to remove My rowing boat from where I left it?! Had to walk an additional 40k for that, thank you very much!"

"No use in wasting resources like that, besides it took a bit of finding since you left it 2 miles off the normal landing in the north!"

The sounds of considerable grunting and milder cussing from below don't reach the guards ears, but "Vilho, now open up! I'm hungry, cold for the nightly trek, and sure to remember this later, if you don't!" is heard.

"Well, that's you Eki, I'm sure. Just so you know, Sergeant Major has been informed of this, so I'll expect you to go straight to the headquarters!". The guard pulls the lever that opens the outer gate of the Scouts gate to the decontamination area, built in a salvaged trailer.

The scout enters the container and starts to unpack his rugsack, he opens the hatch of the decontamination chamber, sets his stuff there, an axe, knife, few other essentials and after undressing, all his clothes. His rifle and maps go to another chamber. Then it's a matter of turning the wheel on the wall to get the conveyor in the chambers going on. After some 10 turns, there's a bling that signals the scout the door to the next chamber is open. This mechanism allows scouts to enter the premises of the safe area on times the Main Gate is shut up, most scouts travelling in the east use this because it's faster and more convenient than going through several checks on the main gate. Kajaani safe area has two gates of this kind, other gates are the Main Gate facing east, Rehja Harbour Gate to ease the travels south, the Dark Gate on the bridge crossing the river and Lake Manama Harbour Gate used mainly for fishing and travelling to smaller settlements in Kajaani Area.

The shower scout takes includes disinfectants, with this improvement ten years ago, Kajaani was finally declared a Safe Area by the very distant authorities of Iceland. Currently all the yougnsters between ages 6 and 12 are taking part on language education program that includes words from all Nordic languages, though the main subject is of course Icelandic. The other subjects in school include many of the skills essential for the survival of Kajaani, so much of the education is practical. The scout leaves the shower chamber to the drying and light-treatment room to finalize his decontamination. There's another wheel in the wall here, but the scout has to wait until the light on the wall turns green. After few turns the scout gets his belongings back from the conveyor. The door to the final check is now open and the shower door locked so the scout proceeds to the room having a window, with no opening for verbal exchanges, for the nurse-in-duty to check for possible lacerations, blood and other injuries the scouts may have acquired during their patrols. The nurse looks happy to see Erkki returning seemingly unharmed and pulls the lever opening the inner gate to the Safe Area.

\------

Since the first part of this tale is going to happen in Kajaani Safe Area and it's immediate vicinity, a short description of this remote though surprisingly large settlement might be in order. Santeri, 14, not immune, nearly done with his schooling, and getting ready to step in with the community of 520 people in Kajaani in the next summer festivities, along with few others, hasn't yet reached the headquarters by the time the scout is let in the Safe Area. He's though cleared the dam behind the perimeter, which distributes water to the perimeter fields in the northern section of the defensive wall. He's on the bicycle he used to get on this remotest gate from the main settlements and cleared much of the 8 kilometers that's between headquarters and the gate.

Kajaani is located, like most settlements in Finland, after The Rash 90 years ago, on an easily defensible spot, in between two lakes that are connected by a fast flowing stream immediately west of Kajaani Center. The two lakes, Rehja and Manama, provide the people with a pretty steady staple food of variety of fish, vendace, perch, pike and few others, the migratory fishes are though lacking and known only from the scouts' travels in the south. As for other meat, the regular fish is replaced in special occasions by the slaughters of elderly animals, that survived The Rash in the 7 farms present in the area. A few other animals can be found on smaller settlements, too, highly valued for their milk. Also rare is the meat of birds, though the settlement has a few small chicken houses and a few injured ducks, these are taken care of by a mage near the harbour of Manama. The waterbirds are quite plenty in the area, but difficult to hunt, and who would eat a wild bird's egg except in extreme situation, and take a likely curse on them? Autumn is the main season for bird hunt, and after proper spells and asking a blessing of the spirits, the people of Kajaani gather to praise the spirits of the woods, water and skies in the local version of Thanksgiving. Bows, crossbows, sometimes traps and nets are used for the hunt, the bullets are reserved for the beasts and trolls. At least Tapio, the God of forest, would get angry for using bullets for game birds, and maybe send some monster right after an improper kill. With waterfowl you'd never know which god to appease.

In total, Kajaani safe area is at it's widest point, a whole 10 miles wide in the E-W direction and little under 8 miles in the N-S direction. Near the middle of this island of humanity are the headquarters of the northern division of finnish military. Much of the area is outside the farms and settlements is reforested after the creation of this safe area and the few pockets of surviving old growth forest in the area are used for praying to spirits and on occasion for preliminary scout training. The soil is generally poor so much of the old farmland is converted back to its original use. Of course people in Kajaani area are trying to reclaim old farms on the islands and penisulas of Manama Lake and some success outside the few settlements that survided The Rash by their own has been achieved.

Santeri gets to the houses comprising the headquarters and rushes to the building he knows the office of Mrs. Kosonen, the head of the scouts, military rank whatever, is located. The guard in the lobby states:"Hey Santtu, where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, hi Ola... umm... important business to Mrs.Kosonen, sir!"

"You should knock on the door next time and state you're case from the door. Doesn't matter, she's not here just now."

"Where is she?! I need to find her ASP!"

"What, has there been an attack during the day? Don't you try to scam me, tell me what's it about."

"Erkki has come back!"

"A-hem... yes, that would be a matter the Sergeant Major would be interested in. She is, I believe, on the wells helping people out with the water, it's been so dry recently. If this is a scam, then you'll not go on without punishment, if you disturb her with phony reports."

 

Santeri rushes to the wells, finds Mrs.Kosonen, and tells what's happened in the morning.

"Good job, lad," says Mrs.Kosonen and continues,"you may stay here in the HQ area to see what's happening before the lunch time, I guess, but then you should get back to school to hear what next, I think. I need to get to the office. Karoliina, would you see Santeri here doesn't get in trouble?", she shouts to a 24 year old hunter visiting HQ for some reason, currently at the same job as everyone on site, watering the herb and vegetable garden.

–----

Mornings are the busiest times of the day in Kajaani, so the scout taking the higher road sees almost no people on his way to the headquarters. The sowing season is almost over, and only the most delicate herbs grown at Kulunta farm are still being sown. Everyones busy with preparing food for lunch or working in the few buildings reserved for arts and crafts. The main settlement in Kajaani has some buildings that could be called industrial even in the wider world, but the road does not go there.

Erkki reaches the five houses, making up the headquarters, and greets the small crowd on the wells. Most just watch the exentric scout coming in from, that much is obvious, a rather rough trip, nodding approvingly to the returning scout, but some calls are not too flattering.

”Could have used you in the fields!”

”Did you bring food with you!?”

Erkki enters the building of scout operations and states to the guard:”Here to see Mrs.Kosonen. It's been a while, Olavi.”

”Yes, she's waiting there for you already”

Knocking on the door and hearing ”Enter!” the scout tries to straighten his overcoat with little success, then enters.

–-----

Location: Kajaani headquarters of military and scouts (total personnel 200)

Time: c.9:30 AM, June 6th, year 90

The initial interview of Corporal Erkki Hyytiälä

 

"So, you then decided really to get out for a while, did you not? Five weeks!"

"yes, Mam..."

"I'll have to say after three weeks we started thinking that you might have moved to Keuruu and forgot to leave a notice!!"

"No, Mam... I went north."

"yes yes, you like 'your wildernesses' but do you have any idea how much inconvience your spring vacation caused to your fellow scouts back here in Kajaani??"

"Didn't really think of them mam, you see, I found this really detailed map of old times stuffed in a plastic rescue equipment container in an abandoned pickup truck, and ...

"We had to completely revise our patrols aroud Vaala and start training few people in day scouting from scratch!, what do you have to say in your d... what did you say?"

"Yes, told no one of that, sorry for that, mam, this map you see..."

"What map, what are you mumbling about?"

"If you'll let me explain, mam..."

"Well then, A report of your activities of the past five weeks, please."

\----

"Mam. You see, I'm sort of a map buff and of course when I find anything of old I'll check those out while out, so I can decide if they're worth carrying back..."

"ok, go on..."

"This is the map that intrigued me so I thought I keep it to myself for a while, it's not as if many scouts do 2 weeks out continously and since I'm the only one I know of who moves in this area, I thought to keep it to myself..."

"Well, that's a start for an explanation...let's see the map then."

The long-distance scout draws out the map in question from his backbag and says:"it's a bit damaged since I fell out of the raft I used... I done my best to dry it and smooth it afterwards... first a word about the area what's depicted on the map, if I may, mam?!"

"Well that goes to the skalds to copy as it should have been immediately, and be glad it's here with you... we do not like people wandering off as you should know, maybe you should work in the fields for a while or... ah well, do go on, that looks like an accurate map, despite the condition."

 

"Yes, as far as I can tell, this is a mostly accurate map over an area where I have been trying to enter for a while now. As you may well know from my previous reports, the areas north of here are very barren, good food sources are few, and there aren't too many safe places to camp out there, few lakes, almost no islands on them and all that... So you might understand my excitement of a map that has at least once in history been accurate showing this area of near-impenetrable bogs and swamps that's been blocking our reconnaissance missions for several years now...

"ok, this starts to be interesting.

"The area in question is a bit over the edge of our normal 2 week range, so previously I've only reached the southwestern edges of this area on my longer outings.

"Yes, I can see why YOU should see this exciting, more wildernesses to wander about, but how come you used a whole fricking five weeks out there, this still needs some additional explanation, and the map should have been copied immediately, who knows whats been lost from it.

"Yes, sorry for that, I wasn't expecting the journey to take that long, but travelling in an unknown area where you don't have maps of can be real slow, especially when you have to mostly fish for food and nearly none of the silent world farms that have plants to harvest... in fact I decided to get on this in spring mainly for the perch and salmon...

"umm, I'll take it you didn't stay on this map then, or that it's partly inaccurate or you got lost, something scouts should never do!"

"Well... yes, yes and yes, mam. When I was planning this journey... well maybe it's better to tell how I got the idea of the expedition first.

"That could be helpful, yes.

”Mrs., for that I'll have to go to last autumn and sad things.”

\--------

location:Kajaani scouts' living room/kitchen

time: early morning, ~5AM, breakfast, september 12th, 89

 

A very tired-looking night scout enters.

"Hello, Arto, good to see you back." "Hi, welcome back." "Nice to see you after a long time!"

There are few additional general greetings from the present day-scouts and long-distance scouts, six in total.

"Hello."

"Was it a rough trip?"

"Tell me more."

"How's everyone?"

Arto sighs and says:"Those who got back alive went straight to bed, I just can't sleep right now. ------ . Damn, I'm sure those trolls can count!"

 

By this time the scouts have realised lives have been lost on this expedition approved by the headquarters.

"Tell us, Arto."

Arto shrugs, then straightens and starts,

"Yes, of course you'll hear about it later, so why not now. So we left here in August after harvest had begun, well-stocked like we thought, on ammo and food, so we could make it 'fast out - fast in', like our captain told us. That place is not for men..."

"Take it easy, you're safe now."

Sad grin appears on Arto's face and he continues:"Well all went well to the first rapids that had been scouted before, after that... The start of the river is ok I guess. Some 70k out there are many little farms that have some trolls but nothing special, so we didn't even have to use much of our stock, and everyone was quite happy to be in the company that could reach the Sea eventually. We only had to go round a couple of areas, and we knew where these were. Then..."

Deep breath.

"then we got to an area, you've not seen such a huge flat land I'm sure. Well some bogs maybe but here there was no water on land and trolls everywhere you look... a terrible sight."

Arto continues: "I stopped counting after 100... We then had to move to our camp on the other side of the river, as it was clear there was no way we could pass this 'city of trolls' on the south side... oh, there's a dam of Old in the river still standing before this place so if you get to that one you'll know you've gone a bit too far... there was an attack on the north shore camp here, killed all 12 of them, and then moved the camp out of sight of the river. Then we decided the forests were a better option to approach the Sea.

–-------

"You see, mam, we scouts share experiences on everything we see outside. Here I realised that if even an experienced party of scouts and military chooses forests over rivers on worse lands the route to the Sea could go by north." He straightens his posture, and says: "May they rest in peace, maybe Captain Haapa-Alho and 5 of his volunteers got to the Sea but not back, we may never know this. Salutes also to the rest of the group who waited in the correct location for much longer than I would have. May the deceased live well in the Home of the Birds."

"Yes. Good men were lost from the Realm of the Living."

 

"That discussion in the scouts mess was the reason I started making gradually longer and longer skiing patrols towards north and northwest last winter, and on one of these I found the map. The distances are though huge and in winter you can't really do long travels without proper preparations and camps on the way."

The leader of the scouts, Mrs Marjatta Kosonen, 48, acting rank Colonel, falls into deep thinking for a while and says: "So, you decided to seek a route all the way to the Sea, by yourself, no?"

"Affirmative."

"Even though you had heard the Tale of the Eleven Deceased, straight from the source?"

"Yes. May Ukko give them clear paths."

There's a moment of silence as both of them reminisce the last autumn.

 

The scout, corporal Erkki Hyytiälä, 34, continues: "Mam, connections to other places is a common subject of talk among the people, when even the route to Pielinen is so difficult. Every bit of news of the other places gets wings and then when you hear that there could be a route to Sweden here in the north you start to wonder where it is."

"Well, it isn't Oulu. That's what we call the destination of the lost team."

"Yes, I know that. I don't have access to other detailed maps than those that are necessary for my scouting, so I've searched the Library of Old for general maps and the place is there, marked like some capital city. The river from our lake leads straight to it."

"Yes, we thought river might provide enough protection for them. It's been decided we won't try that route again, at least for some years."

"According to the maps in the library, there are at least three more rivers in the north that lead to the Sea. If you could get to those you maybe could avoid the horrors of Oulu, I reasoned. The trouble was just that with my estimate, it would take at least a month if you knew the safe route beforehand. So according to my estimate, I'm only a week late!"

"So you say you found the headwaters of this river, sailed it to the Sea, and walked back again?"

"It wasn't that easy as you make it sound but, yes, that is essentially correct.

 

”Well, all's well thus far but do you see Erkki, there's this problem with what you have said until now”, says the Sergeat Major.

Erkki thinks about this and asks,” Oh yes Mrs., and what would that be?”

”You see, all you've said is consistent with what we know of the lands west and north. But, if you are going to get away with this alope, there should be some proof. Is there any? How can I take this just by your word?? Did you bring anything back from where you said you were?”

Erkki looks a bit shaken but says,”Yes, I'm glad it occurred to me I might need some proof, when I spent whole three days by the sea. That thing is big, you can't drink the water from it and there are some huge wawes on it, as big as any I've seen on our lake!”

”All of that could be hearsay, so some concrete items would be nice.”

”Yes, I think I have that too.”

”So, let's see it, what have you?”

Erkki digs in his rucksack and says,”could be they're in a bit bad shape, they've of course gone through decontamination... ”

”Here's some white paper for skalds, colored pencils and normal pencils too, a mirror, a box with a mirror in it... ah here”, says the scout and takes out two packages wrapped in old newspaper, and a leaflet.

”Mrs. the leaflet is from outskirts of the town Of Old near the outlet of the river, I think it's in swedish.”, says the scout. ”Then here are the remnants of my meal by the Sea, was really glad to find the mussels are good food even there, look how large these are, not sure if I've ever seen such here, also glad I didn't catch any illness from the spirits. Tasted odd though, but maybe it's because of the salty water.” The scout opens the last package and says,”And here, too bad I had to kill it but I was worried if I had enough for the return trip, think I'll need to go to the mage to ask for forgivness, but have you ever seen such a duck?”

Sergeant Major looks at the head of an eider and says,”Yes, saw one at Saimaa once. Mages there told that on the other end of the Canal this is a common bird by the Sea.”

 

”I almost believe your story now, I have to say, the leaflet must be deciphered though.”, says the head of Scouts. ”But, You're not to leave Kajaani before the map's been copied and this has been discussed within the Counsil. You're not to talk about this with anyone until then. Shouldn't be too hard to you”, the Sergeant Master adds”, I'm taking you off the list of scouts and assigning you to common service for the time being.”

” but Mrs... what of Vaala patrols...”

”No buts, Corporal, as of now an everyman, go get something to eat, get rested and see you again tomorrow morning at 7AM. I'll need to work on this.”

”Mrs., I won't run...”

”Nothing of that, Erkki. In fact, do not tell anything to your fellow scouts too, we don't want anyone to have crazy ideas about this. At rest, everyman, see you tomorrow.”

 

(map of Kajaani Safe Area)

 


	2. chapter 1. Normality

As the scout leaves to get some very late breakfast, Mrs. Kosonen looks at the evidence again. The man hasn't got the wits to pull this sort of prank together, she knows, rather this would be a sort of plan by some Mage who might have been disappointed of the decision to get to the Sea the straighest route. But how would Erkki be convinced to take part of this sort of scam, she doesn't know. As an afterthought, she opens the window and sees Erkki strolling towards the canteen and shouts to him,”Erkki! Go see the Master of Mages about the killed bird, and before the night, will you?” She sees people returning from the herb garden, moving to the upmost field to continue their work, and singles two people out,”Karo, will you come to see me? And the boy too!”  
As the two enter the office, Mrs.Kosonen has stashed the abnormal evidence to her desk drawer and says to Karoliina:”You're one of the more experienced hunters of the younger generation so that's why I called you. In fact I wanted to talk to the boy, Santeri, wasn't it, to you I've got just a couple of questions.”  
”I'll do my best, Mrs.Master of Scouts”, says Karo standing at ease as the Head of Scouts has no jurisdiction over the matters of hunters.  
”I'll be questioning others who know Erkki better than you, but how would you characterise Erkki? Is he prone to lie or pull schemes, making stories up and all that, is he in some sort of clique I don't know about?”  
”I wouldn't know of any cliques, Mrs.”, says Karo continuing,”I really don't know him that well, Mrs., but I would say 'no', in general. Not more than the other scouts that is. The world of scouts is that different from the rest of us, they're spending so much of their time in the silent world, so their stories of Outside are every now and then something you wonder wether to believe or not. Erkki is no exception in this matter from what I know. I think you would know better what to believe, or maybe some Mage friend of his if he has one.”  
”Do you know if Erkki have any specific issues he's holding back? More so than usual?”  
”I'm not aware of those Mrs., there's of course the thing about everyman knows he applied to become a messenger between here and Pielinen, as you might know, he didn't get selected, and he's complained this a few times in the sauna I hear.”  
”Ah, my husband thought he'd be better at charting the wilderness than with strangers at Pielinen, so he left him out of the group.”, says Marjatta Kosonen, his husband in charge of the messaging between the settlements separated by 150 km, via a 'not-harmless' route, she and her husband took when they moved to Kajaani.  
”Of course there's no doubt of his wilderness skills, but it's the human factor at work here... would he lie to me because of this?”  
Karo thinks for a moment and says,”No Mrs., I do not think so. He might take it to your husband and confront him rather agressively, but as he hasn't done so yet, I believe he's content with the decision to leave him out. As far as I've heard people talk about him”, she adds, ”not the type to hold grudges, for long anyway. Restless soul, like some crossbill or shrike, if you ask me. Don't know of his soul's bird of course.”  
”So, in general, a man with his own habits, not a liar, but best to leave to his own, until he talks, if angry, best to be in a larger company? As I've thought. Thank you. I have just another question to you”, she says and takes out the head of the bird Erkki brought in.  
”Do you know what sort of bird this is? Have you seen any hereabouts?”  
The hunter takes the head to her hands and looks at it, carefully checking the remaining feathers and beak.  
”Mrs., I would say no. This is not of the ordinary ducks we hunt, and not a geese of course. Rather, the shape of the skull and beak would point to a bird very rarely seen that's been found a few times here. The hunters' house has an example of this so we'll recognise it. Usually comes in right before the winter, after northwinds, they say, never seen a live one myself. This one though, has a completely different coloration than the one in the House. I'd say that's a new species for the region. I could ask more about it if necessary, Mrs?”  
”Umm, there's no need. This is a species found far south of here, f.e. people at Saimaa know this one, I can always ask there if I need some more info on this. I was just testing you.”  
”A-ok”, says the hunter,”You said you wanted to talk to Santeri here?”  
”Yes. Thanks for your opinions, Karo, may your arrows hit the mark. You can go, I'll take care of Santeri now.”

–---------

Santeri enters the kitchen via backdoor and asks a guy prepping the dinner for the group working in the headquarters ”Is Erkki still in the hall?”  
After getting a positive answer he slides by the two cooks responsible today to keep the people fed and enters the diner hall, having 6 tables plus a couple of quieter corners for evening discussions. The building itself is one of the few complete newbuilds in the whole of Kajaani, thus the diner walls are made of peeled logs like many of the fancier cabins of old, resting on poorly mortared stones dug deep on the hillside. The understory has a space for bucthering and smoking the butchered meat and fish, that's not going to be eaten straight away. There's also a cool room to fight ill rumours spoiling food, this addition, occasionally powered by a small wind generator beside the chicken house on the yard makes the house the favorite place to eat in the HQ area. It even has a steady supply of milk!  
Grabbing some slices of buttered bread with beef jerky prepped for dinner and a glass of water Santeri approaches the scout eating the leftovers of the breakfast and sits opposite of Erkki. Erkki looks at him rather disapprovingly and continues to spoon the sticky porridge in.  
”I saw you come in,” says Santeri, ”what's it like outside?”. Erkki raises his head and nods, this time approvingly, and eats the last bits still on the plate, looks at Santeri starting the beef jerky sandwhich, sighs, says,”city boys... if you get me a couple of those I can tell you a bit. ”, Santeri rushes back in the kitchen and after a while, returns with four sandwiches. And a jug of water. Erkki now sits on the corner beside the fireplace not lit, trying to stretch and massage some more life to his legs.  
”I must be off soon to see the mage, safe returns and that sort of thing, but I think I can stay for a while, nice place this, remeber when I first came to Kajaani thought that this is civilization. Now I know better of course, there's a whole lot of world out there. But the Rash...”  
”Can I call you Erkki. Corporal?”  
”Yeah why not, I'm not too big on honorifics anyway and besides it's no more corporal, they're good when people need some order in their actions, but not all the time, so yeah, I'm Erkki.”  
”Santeri,” says Santeri and a handshake happens.  
”But why not corporal, did they ground you?.... sir?”  
”Not your business.” ”But you wanted to hear about the outside, did you not? You've not been outside of Kajaani for the whole of your life, no?”  
Santeri knows most of this by his discussion with the Seargant Major and quickly answers,” Yes, how can you survive out there, there's been very little talk about scouting and the Silent World in school, mostly we try to learn near-impossible technical, medical stuff and of course there's agriculture as if any of us wouldn't have learnt of this by the age of 10 and then there are of course the practical stuff, I like metal works. I was in the guard duty when you came from the forest and...”  
”Yes yes, what would you know about Silent World. There's a thing I'd change about the school, but ... Back home in Ontojärvi, we didn't have any safe places. We had the first rule in our hearts. You know the First Rule, hopefully they've not taken that out of the school. 'Stand Still,”  
”...Stay Silent.”, Santeri finishes the First Rule.

”And that's a truth if any.”, continues Erkki. ”Works better for children though. You are what...13-14 of age?  
”Fourteen.”  
”Well there are cases that the first rule has worked even for people of your age, up, close and personal with a troll, but I wouldn't count on it. Both are though good advice for older people too, though I might change this good rule for children to 'Move silently, if you have to stand still, be even more silent, preferably with a rifle unlatched” for scouts and any adult who's in the Silent World. Those trolls have ears, you know, if you have to, shoot them in the head and make an escape. How's your markmanship, Santeri?”  
”Not too good but I can hit a stationary target pretty good with a bow, don't have one myself though.”  
”The thing with trolls is, where there's one theres usually at least a second one somewhere nearby so shooting one with a gun will likely bring another one about so always keep both barrels of a shotgun loaded. It's no use killing one and be killed by the second. Earlier it happened pretty regularly in Ontojärvi that a hunter shot a bird or an animal, there still are some in the wildernesses there, waking up trolls nearby and be killed when gutting the animal on site or when returning home. Just because he was short on bullets or forgetting to reload. Trolls aren't too good on close combat, but they CAN use sharp items and blunt objects. You try to carry a fourty kilo of deer meat and defend against two trolls. Here in Kajaani, hunters have it a bit easier as they go out in groups or at least in pairs so the other one can watch for the other one. We think we lost our head Mage this way, too, he made a trip far out in the east, some heard one shot, a bit afterwards another and then, nothing. One of Kajaani's Mages took his place later, I haven't heard how well he does out there.”  
”Have you been to the villages of Old?”, asks Santeri though he knows this too from the earlier discussion.  
”Hmm, yes, but those are bad places to visit and worse still if you happen to enter one by accident... they are not bordered like all the human settlements outside Iceland, I hear. You might enjoy walking on a smooth path or road of the Old, not see any signs of danger until you hit a center of a Silent village. Then you could be lucky to get out alive. Those villages have numerous cabins of old just out of sight of the path you're following... if you need to travel in the Silent World, get the most recent good map, and learn it before you go in an area. Of course, there are no maps of all the places out there, recent anyway... part of the skills of a good scout is to know when to take the harder terrain. Can't teach that in the school. Do you have somewhere to go after this?”  
”No, they let me off the school duties after I reported your arrival, I live in Paltta, didn't you have a place there too?”  
”Well, kind of... there's the scouts' house where I usually stay when in, and a room for some stuff I care about. Short way off the harbour.”  
”Are you going to visit Ukko's House? I'll go with you? Nothing else to do and mother and father will put me to field work if I go home early? ”  
Somewhat of a smirk can be seen on Erkki face as he says, ”yeah, have a whole day off, youngster, let's go see Karvinen.”

–-------

Mrs. Kosonen sees the two males leave the diner together taking the road towards Ukko's House and Paltta. She takes the evidence of the remarkable journey out of the drawer and moves it to the filing cabinet, locks it and makes her way out. ”Hopefully I can trust Santeri and Karvinen on this one,” she thinks and starts to seek out people she knows she needs to talk. ”Of course there has to be a general meeting of like-minded shortly, I'd like it be before tomorrow but no way I can reach all relevant people between now and evening...” As Mrs. Kosonen is finishing her round finding 4 of the people to talk the lunch bell on the diner starts to cling. ”well no can do, Aku in Kajaani has to wait, and Liisi from Salmi and...” People start to drop in the HQ area from the field above and gathering to the diner. Everyone is surprisingly silent, casually glancing at Mrs.Kosonen sitting on the table outside the diner entrance. ”Ah well, okay then...”, mrs Kosonen thinks.

She moves to the diner, first in line, hailing to the first friend of hers. ”Jaakko, come help me with the tables, will you?” Jaakko passes the line waiting the service to begin and together they rearrange the two furthermost tables so one is further out in the corner replacing the quiet corner set of chairs and the other one is moved to the middle. 

As people have settled in with their trays of lunch, they're still abnormally silent, not that finns usually are of talkative sort, Mrs Kosonen explains to people on the center table,”I'll have a brief note so make some room, will you”. Standing on the table, she raises her voice:”As you all undoubtly by know know, we have found our lost lamb. The fact that the lamb found his way back home by himself, doesn't change the fact that we are people and not some lone beasts! The reason why were are still alive, here under Ukko's Dome, is, that we work together and abide to some common rules! Not one of us would survive alone in Silent World for long, if we wouldn't have a safe place where to return to. I'll say, Erkki would be of the same opinion if pressed hard enough. Thus, after a long chat with Erkki, I decided to take away his scout status for breaching rhe rules of scouting once too many. He's as of now in the status of everyman, with all that entails. And so, you all may see Erkki much more during the next weeks, maybe the whole summer, doing what every man may do. People working on the gates will be informed of this. We will be following his conduct for a while, so reports of misdemeanour will be accepted and taken in consideration. But please, do not jump on him too much, he's still a good scout when he behaves.But there are limits, even to the scouts. So please,”she concludes,” let's welcome our lost lamb back to the community, so he may feel himself home with people! Now I'll need to discuss with a few people about Erkki's future work, and likely, also studies of rules and conduct, so will you come and join me here on the corner table, you know who you are.”


End file.
